How Small Is Too Small?

[onidrase]

I still have yet to get an definitive answer on this. (Well, I might have, but I may have missed it or something)

I've been stressing and stressing about my rainbowfish. Every time they seem healthy, one of them just randomly dies in the middle of the night. It's freaking me out. I can't find out what's wrong, and I've decided that instead of continuing to replace them, I'm just gonna stick with any survivors that don't pass in the middle of the night (if any) and stock for something that's familiar to me.

This is for my 75 gallon. It's got a GT, FM, convict, raphael catfishes, featherfin squeaker, BN plec, and a senegal bichir.

I've seen GT's kept with a lot of different fish. From Sailfin Mollies (Would that really work?) to Bleeding Heart Tetras to Kribensis, but that doesn't mean they're compatible

Basically, I want something that won't get eaten. all the fish are sill juvies, if that's worth anything.

The tank will be pretty dense with tall hardy plants and driftwood.

To fill the schooling fish void, I was looking at:

Bleeding Heart Tetras
Giant Danios
Odessa Barbs
Rosy Barbs (if 77F is alright?)
Tiger Barbs
Black Mollies or sword tails (Lol, if it really works, why not? They like hard water, sounds perfect for my tank. I guess while they won't get eaten, though, they seem kind sluggish and might not be any good for the convict's hissy fits)
X-Ray Tetras

Ultimately, I guess the better question is, how big should a fish be to be safe from the jaws of the larger fish in my tank?

 

[thereverendturtle]

Sorry can't help you with the deaths of the rainbows, but out of the fish you list as possible choices my first choice would be the rosy barbs, then the tigers. The X-ray tetras would just be snacks, the bleeding hearts might be ok, but I had a Geo. brasilineis that ate some of mine, even though they barely fit in his mouth. The mollies need warmer water and the swords are... Well I don't know, they may work.

 

[onidrase]

Sorry can't help you with the deaths of the rainbows, but out of the fish you list as possible choices my first choice would be the rosy barbs, then the tigers. The X-ray tetras would just be snacks, the bleeding hearts might be ok, but I had a Geo. brasilineis that ate some of mine, even though they barely fit in his mouth. The mollies need warmer water and the swords are... Well I don't know, they may work.

The only thing keeping me from the rosy barbs is that they like the temperature closer to 71.

I have no idea what is going on with the rainbows, but I was told they are most likely hybrids. I don't think that's the just cause, but it might have something to do with it, since I have no idea what kind of water perims and whatnot they prefer.

I'm just gonna go with the tiger barbs or bleeding hearts and hope for the best. Don't Geo's have rather large mouths?

 

[onidrase]

I think the tigers would be safe with the cichlids, but what about the senegal? How big should my fish be to not look like food to him?

 

[thereverendturtle]

I know rosies are temperate fish by nature, but most have been bred and reared for generations at tropical temps. I leave that up to you though.
I highly doubt your rainbows are hybrids. It might be possible but I've never heard of it happening and even if so it shouldn't be killing them off. Most rainbows like similar water to c/a fish.
As for the bichir, the more slab sided the fish the safer they will be. Honestly at full size he'll probably eat either the tigers or the bleeding hearts. If it wasn't a planted tank I'd recommend silver dollars.

Yeah my geo had a good sized mouth on him, about the same as a JD or red devil. He was really just a punk, so I traded him and my female in. Wish I hadn't, but I was sixteen at the time. Oh well.

 

[meguro]

i thought gt's preferred a temp of around 23-25C? so the barbs preference of 21C isnt too much lower

 

[onidrase]

i thought gt's preferred a temp of around 23-25C? so the barbs preference of 21C isnt too much lower

I keep my tan temp at 76-78F to match just about everything else's preference. The difference of the GT's temp. pref in such a case is merely 2 degrees F at best, whereas the difference for he rosy barb would be a good 5-7F

 

[Timmy_Bee]

I have kept all of the above barbs and more at similar temps with no issues.
Personally, rosys and tigers were my least favorite. I love the Odessa, but I also became very attached to my Golden barbs.

Even the smaller barbs (drape fin. Not so much cherries) happily put up with the cichlids i have kept, but i have never had the fish you speak of.

 

[onidrase]

I know rosies are temperate fish by nature, but most have been bred and reared for generations at tropical temps. I leave that up to you though.
I highly doubt your rainbows are hybrids. It might be possible but I've never heard of it happening and even if so it shouldn't be killing them off. Most rainbows like similar water to c/a fish.
As for the bichir, the more slab sided the fish the safer they will be. Honestly at full size he'll probably eat either the tigers or the bleeding hearts. If it wasn't a planted tank I'd recommend silver dollars.

Yeah my geo had a good sized mouth on him, about the same as a JD or red devil. He was really just a punk, so I traded him and my female in. Wish I hadn't, but I was sixteen at the time. Oh well.

Yeah, if it wasn't planted I may have even went for buenos aires tetras. if I can make a decent hardscape, I may even take the plants out and move them to another tank and get either silver dollars or buenos aires. Probably silver dollars, since I've been itching to give them a try. and my old buenos aires tetras were monsters.

Would java ferns even be safe with silver dollars? I love java ferns. I really would not mind having a tank with nothing but drift wood and java ferns. And fish, of course.

 

[onidrase]

I have kept all of the above barbs and more at similar temps with no issues.
Personally, rosys and tigers were my least favorite. I love the Odessa, but I also became very attached to my Golden barbs.

Even the smaller barbs (drape fin. Not so much cherries) happily put up with the cichlids i have kept, but i have never had the fish you speak of.

I love tiger barbs, they're like little spartans.

The species I listed were pretty much all the fish that I could easily get ahold of here. I've never heard of drape fin or golden barbs before so I wouldn't know much about them.

I suggested rosy's mostly as a last choice thing, they're really not my favorite kind of fish out there, but I knew they can get pretty big. However, I've been reading around that they usually don't get much larger than 3 inches, which would kinda push them back in terms of if I'd really like owning them.

I'm kinda torn between the odessas or tigers. It really comes down to which one is the least edible. And I'm most likely just gonna rehome the bichir, he really was kind of an impulse buy that I didn't know much about

Besides, he kinda creeps me out, he has that snakey look to his face. I hate snakes

 

[balajake]

Arulius Barb get about 4 inch

 

[thereverendturtle]

Silver dollars will go for java fern in my experience. I think if you had a nice healthy grove of it prior to adding them, it would stand a much better chance. I always tried to add plants to an existing group.